The 5* Biggest Fears about Tech Editing (Pt. 1)

*based on anecdotal evidence.

Tech editing can seem like an overwhelming, scary process. While I have clients who are always eager to get input from an editor, I’ve also had several clients who are unsure their patterns are ready, who have had less than great experiences with a previous editor, or who just aren’t sure the process is ultimately worth it. While these fears are perfectly understandable, they don’t have to be permanent.

In Part 1, we’ll try to dispel three fears around the editing process itself.

1.       The editor is going to think I don’t know what I’m doing.

This is probably the number one fear not just for knit and crochet designers, but anyone in a creative profession who asks someone else to give feedback on their work. It is hard to hand over a project you have poured your heart and soul into and ask for feedback under any circumstances. But it’s even harder if you’ve never been in an editing or critique process before – or if you have and the feedback was unnecessarily harsh.

Editors know that writing down a pattern clearly takes a different set of skills than figuring out how to knit or crochet the object in the first place. Mistakes in a pattern draft are more often caused by mistranslations from the designer part of your brain to the writer part of your brain. (And typos. The vast majority of mistakes I fix come from mistyped letters or numbers, because spellcheck is insufficient for knitting patterns.) If your pattern needs a lot of editing, your designer won’t think you don’t know what you’re doing as a designer, just that you need some help explaining it clearly.

2.       There’s going to be a problem in the pattern that the editor won’t know how to fix.

Knitting and crochet are crafts that have existed for centuries and countless techniques have been developed in cultures all over the world.  It is very unlikely that any one person anywhere has encyclopedic knowledge of every possible garment construction, stitch pattern, or shaping technique.  So it is possible, especially if your pattern has an unusual element in its design, that your editor might not have seen it before. However, your editor also knows this and most of us have several strategies to address any question we have about a new to us construction or technique.

Here are some of the things I do when something I’m not familiar with pops up in a pattern:

• Check my reference books. Principles of Knitting is usually my first check, but I have a growing library of sweater construction books, stitch dictionaries, and other useful books covering everything from gauge and basic stitch abbreviations to advanced short row and embellishment techniques.

• Check the internet.  If it’s a very specific issue chances are a knitter or crocheter somewhere has written a blog or made a video about it.

• Ask my colleagues. Tech editors are one of the most collegial working communities I have ever been a part of. We regularly ask each other for help if we get stuck, because it’s likely someone else has seen that issue before.

In a worst case scenario, a good editor will be honest if your pattern is not something that they have the right knowledge to edit well, and may offer you a referral to a colleague who does have that knowledge.  We want you to get the assistance you need!

3.       We might disagree on what needs to be fixed.

Most editors I know (myself included), think of the edits they make on two levels.  There are the edits that have to be made to keep the pattern correct and understandable for most knitters, such as math errors, actual instruction errors (e.g. forgetting to add finishing or assembly instructions), or misused terms.  Then there are the edits that are really more suggestions. Perhaps you’ve fully written out a section of instructions and the editor suggests a way to explain the same instructions with a repeat or two to make the pattern more concise.  Perhaps there’s an unusual stitch in your pattern and the editor suggests a section that explains the technique in more detail.  These are edits that will not break your pattern, they are just options the editor is mentioning as a potential alternative. 

As editors, we try to help you make the pattern the best it can be without losing your individual voice as a pattern writer. We won’t be upset with you if you opt not to take suggestions that don’t break the pattern. In fact, many editors will make it clear in their edits which errors are pattern breaking and which are just suggestions, to help you make those decisions.

Did this post help address any of your fears around tech editing?  Stay tuned next week for part two, in which we focus on fears around finding the right tech editor and the cost of editing.